What a pleasure on a gloomy, cold day to approach the Guildhall Art Gallery with an air of anticipation …
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973) was one of the twentieth century’s most prolific and successful playwrights, songwriters, actors and directors …
Entry to the exhibition is free (timed ticket required) and you are also handed a delightful pocket biography containing images of some of the exhibits …
It tells us that there was much more to Coward’s style than just chic costumes and décor. His humour was often a deflecting mirror that allowed him to probe deeply into social and emotional complexities. As a gay man (at a time when homosexuality was criminalised) who also surmounted significant barriers of class, he brought to his art the acute perceptions of an outsider and an anarchic comic edge. He pushed boundaries by dramatising sexuality with candour, and modelled an alternative vision of masculinity. He built a family around him of friends and collaborators, offering fantastic opportunities to women that was rare for his time.
I recall seeing many Noël Coward caricatures over the years, often portraying him in a luxurious dressing gown holding a long cigarette holder …
And, appropriately, the first exhibit you see on display is this dressing gown that belonged to him in the 1950s. ‘They’re so comfortable to act in’, said Coward ‘. ‘And they’ve got swing …’ …
Noël’s famous Las Vegas dressing gown from 1955 …
It became an international icon in its own right following his stellar Las Vegas performances, Coward posing in it with a procession of celebrity visitors such as such as Cole Porter, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall and, of course, Frank Sinatra …
Labels at the Gallery are clear and informative and items beautifully displayed …
For his contemporary audiences his productions were also visual feasts and one gets a great sense of this in the exhibition. For example, this reconstruction of a 1930 costume for Gertrude Lawrence when appearing in Private Lives …
There are some iconic items and images …
There is sheet music … it’s 1941 and Londoners are going about their normal business despite the horrors of the Blitz …
And from 1923 …
Along with posters …
And costume and set designs …
You also get a sense of the glamorous audiences of the day …
There are some great, evocative photographs …
And the very personal …
Sir Noël after receiving his Knighthood …
It’s a great exhibition and I highly recommend it.
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